Vii

More soft, I deem, from spring to spring, Thy sleep would be Where this far western headland lies With its imperial azure skies, Under thee hearing beat and swing The eternal sea.

Where all the livelong brooding day And all night long, The far sea-journeying wind should come Down to the doorway of thy home, To lure thee ever the old way With the old song.

But the dim forest would so house Thy heart so dear, Even the low surf of the rain, Where ghostly centuries complain, Might beat against thy door and rouse No heartache here.

For here the thrushes, calm, supreme, Forever reign, Whose gloriously kingly golden throats Regather their forgotten notes In keys where lurk no ruin of dream, No tinge of pain.

And here the ruthless noisy sea, With the tide’s will, The strong gray wrestler, should in vain Put forth his hand on thee again-- Lift up his voice and call to thee, And thou be still.

For thou hast overcome at last; And fate and fear And strife and rumor now no more Vex thee by any wind-vexed shore, Down the strewn ways thy feet have passed Far, far from here.